apollo0325's reviews
435 reviews

Why do they have to look so underaged 😭

Rust, the gay hero we needed but not the one we deserve 💖

On a serious note, I quite liked this one, but I also felt some of the deaths of the characters didn’t necessarily have the emotional impact that we probably should have gotten because they tended to become archetypes. What character ‘development’ we did receive was right before their death. I wish we had taken more time to get to know them before their untimely demises.

The antagonists were so fucking farcical though and the architects of the entire plan had the WORST character motivations that didn’t really make much sense to me.

I will say when the action started, it just kept going. Cesare has a great way of maintaining momentum in scenes even when we cut to other characters. Overall, the craftsmanship of the novel was excellent, but I wish the antagonists felt more justified and the time we spent with the characters was longer so we could feel the impact of their deaths and actions.

I’ve been debating since I finished whether this was a 4 or 5 star, and while I don’t necessarily see myself rereading it (at least any time soon), the themes and tone of this book hit really hard as a 30 year old, unskilled worker who has no interest in “normal” life goals like getting married and having kids especially as a person born as a female. I also felt like Keiko had something akin to autism, wanting things to be explained plainly and without fluff and appreciated honesty even if it was harsh. This isn’t to say all autistic people feel this way, but it’s not uncommon.

Maybe the author wasn’t intending any of that and was simply commentating on Japan’s societal expectations and late stage capitalism, but I like to think this was for the autistic kids that never really realized they were autistic. I don’t think this book would have affected me as much a couple years ago, but I really felt it now.

Solid and quick read. You kinda know where this is going to go pretty quickly, but I think SGJ did a good job of creating a mostly compelling and spiraling MC.

I simply don’t care for the narrator lol

This was… interesting. I’m glad I read it, and I think it makes for an interesting perspective on grief within the lens of people’s personal stories staying with you, but I don’t know if it really left an impact on me. The writing was good though and I’d like to revisit this author in the future.

I haven’t picked this back up since I checked it out at the library and I just don’t care enough to return 💀